IHC directs govt to take up issue with UAE

Missing person’s case

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday directed the federal government to officially take up the matter of the petitioner’s missing son Omar Mateen with the government of Dubai, UAE.A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Noor-ul-Haq N Qureshi issued these directions while hearing a petition of Qurban Raja, a retired deputy commissioner Income Tax, who moved the court through his counsel Barrister Afzal Hussain.In his petition, he prayed to the court that it may direct the federal government through secretary foreign affairs and counsel general of Pakistan in Dubai to officially take up the case of the petitioner’s missing son Omer Mateen, who is missing from Dubai since March 2, 2014 after coming out of a bank.On the last hearing of the case on June 16, 2014, the IHC bench had directed secretary foreign affairs and counsel general of Pakistan in Dubai to file report and para-wise comments within 10 days. However, the foreign office did not submit the report till July 16, and then, the petitioner filed a contempt of court petition that was later withdrawn on assurance of a standing counsel that the foreign office will submit its reply. On Thursday, when the court resumed hearing in this matter, the standing counsel and representative of the foreign ministry informed the court that they have sent three letters dated April 8, 2014, April 14, 2014 and May 5, 2014 to the foreign ministry of the UAE in this regard. However, they have not received any reply from it.Then, the IHC single bench directed the federal government and counsel general of Pakistan in Dubai to officially take up this matter with the government of Dubai, UAE and also directed the counsel general to nominate a focal person to negotiate this matter with the Dubai officials and to facilitate the petitioner in search of his missing son.It is pertinent to mention here that petitioner’s son Omer, an accountant with a company in Dubai, was sent to a bank in the company’s hired car along with driver Aamir Khan as a routine matter for encashment of two cheques of 1.5 million UAE Dirhams without a security guard.After enchasment, Omer did not reach office and went missing and still his whereabouts are not known to anyone. The driver firstly stated that after dropping the petitioner’s son in front of the bank, his car met with an unfortunate accident, caught fire and he left the car and went to hospital for burn treatment. Later, the driver changed his stance and it was conveyed to the petitioner that his son came out of the bank and gave driver 100,000 Dirhams and went away. The petitioner also maintained that his son’s passport was handed over to the Dubai police by his daughter-in-law who was residing in Dubai with his son and since March twice the petitioner has been to Dubai and have also written a letter to the secretary foreign affairs seeking support for the recovering of his son.The court deferred the hearing in this matter after hearing the arguments and issuing aforementioned directions.

This news was published in The Nation newspaper. Read complete newspaper of 18-Jul-2014 here.